A new Velomobile design, the Road HAWK, is currently being developed by WEJKAMA, a company in Poland. The company is well established, currently serving the automotive world with a number of fiberglass products products, principally a sleeping compartment that can be installed on a number of delivery vehicles for long distance freight haulage.
As an existing company with all the skills needed to produce velomobile bodies the potential looks good. However the information on their website, while interesting, is rather scanty when it come to technical detail. The image featured above is evidently a photo-mock-up, but it does appear to be based on a body prototype to which some wheels have been attached. The hard part will be in getting the details right including successfully developing the mechanical side.
A short report on Ligfiets.net adds details about price (€4,500+) and weight. They also make an interesting comparison with the Flevobike Orca and the Sunrider, currently under development with Alligt. This is interesting since Alligt source their fibreglass bodies from a Polish supplier and WEJKAMA are also advertising body-building services to other velomobile producers. Whether WEJKAMA supply Alligt is not known but it does seem likely that they already have experience with some existing velomobile body construction.
At present there is one other known Polish velomobile producer, Car-Bike who used to supply the original Cab-Bike with their bodies, and then took over the production when Cab-bike ceased trading at the start of 2012. Car-bike’s website is similarly short on information and, after restyling the original Cab-bike and demonstrating a two-seater (sociable) velomobile at SPEZI in 2011, not much has been heard from them. However there is word that this may be about to change. There is also talk that they may revert to the original Cab-bike name as the Car-bike name is already owned in Germany by the developers of a human-electric hybrid multi-seater vehicle.
The above drawings, from Wejkama’s site, also indicate plans to offer the Road HAWK in multiple configurations with both a head-in, “Cabin,” as well as a head-out, “Cabrio,” model. Similar to Wejkama, Car-bike/Cab-bike also offer(ed) a Cabin and a Cabrio model and one cannot help making a connection. We await with interest to see how the Road HAWK continues to develop this year.
The European sequel to ROAM, planned to take place this coming summer, has been cancelled. Unlike the US event of 2011, which essentially involved one country and one language, the EuroTour planners have been faced with the challenge formed by: not only a route crossing multiple countries, with diverse legal requirements; but also with language barriers, and a lack of on the ground volunteers to support the planning effort. The sheer scale of the event, with the number of registered participants well over 100, has also added to the difficulties.
Sean Havins made the following announcement in the EuroTour forum:
It is the middle of January 2013 and we still do not have routes defined for Belgium, much of France or Switzerland. This makes it impossible to know many basic things that we must know to make the tour happen. It is too late.
Also, we must have help in France to register with the local districts if we are to ride together as a tour. Several ideas have been put forward to try and circumvent the French laws. I will not do this. Several ideas have been put forward to split the tour or skip France entirely. If this was the only major problem, I would consider one of these ideas and continue the tour.
To those of you who have invested your time in this tour; Thank you. I am sorry that your work will not be used for this year. I firmly believe that EuroTour WILL happen. When it does, your work will be of great value.
After volunteering to fill the for the 2013 event Sean also announced that he would be stepping down from any organizing role for a possible 2014:
When I first volunteered to lead the organization of the tour, I knew that I was not qualified. I assumed the role because at the time, I felt that someone had to. I hoped that someone more qualified would volunteer. Here is a link to my original post where I volunteered for this job. http://www.bentrideronline.com/messageboard/showpost.php?p=849292&postcount=82
Since the tour is in Europe, it needs leadership who is familiar with the countries involved and can communicate well. I have never been to Europe and I only speak one language.
I am not a manager. I am a technician. The management skills that are needed for a project of this type do not come naturally to me. I had hoped I could learn by doing and become the manager this tour needed. I did not.
For these reasons, I must step down and hand control to someone more qualified. If no one volunteers to take the role of organizational leader, this tour will not happen.
It is my hope that someone will pick this up and make it happen in 2014. Much of the work has been done and much still needs doing. I believe this tour can happen and and that when it does, it will be wonderful.
I will continue to manage this forum as long as there is interest in the EuroTour or as long as the new organizers, whoever they are, want it to exist. If someone takes over the organizational role, and would like an internet presence and a place for files and calendars of the daily rides, I will happily help with that.
So there is some prospect for a tour ride in 2014, if some capable organisers will step up to the plate.
But that is not all. Based on comments in the forum, it also seems quite likely that a much reduced group may still attempt a 2013 tour on an ad-hoc basis. The suggestion is to start immediately after the 2013 HPV World Championships which are to be held in Germany. So … watch this space.
Trisled have brought out a new variant of the Rotovelo, their robust budget priced velomobile. The Rotovelo Carbon is, as it’s name suggests, is made in the same shape as the original Rotovelo but with a body of carbon fibre instead of the original roto-molded HDPE. We briefly mentioned the body material advantage of the original design in a post regarding the sale of the machine reviewed by Velovision Magazine (Issue 41 Jun 2011).
What was not mentioned was the bare-bones spec, which includes no installed suspension system and simple cruciform frame, since the body is not sufficiently capable of carrying load. The specification is justified as part of a design whose objective is robust simplicity and low cost. That this bare-bones spec has been translated directly to a machine with a costly and relatively fragile body has raised a lot of comment and questions along the lines of, “what are they thinking!?”
The following short video by Trisled illustrates the Rotovelo Carbon in action.
A typical velomobile can be expected to weight upward of 30 kg with the sporty machines weighing in the mid 20s. Perhaps the lightest of these is the Go-one Evo-Ks at 21.5 kg for the bare model. What Trisled have achieved with the Rotovelo Carbon is a low weight – obviously depending on component choice, as low as 19.5 kg (the same weight as my Claude Butler run-about bike!) Given the attractive weight there are some saying, if the Rotovelo Carbon came with suspension they would have one, and it is claimed to be the most asked for feature for the original Rotovelo, so what gives?
Firstly there is a weight saving by excluding active suspension, so the record low would not be possible otherwise. Secondly there is a helpful and fairly extensive rider report on the Rotovelo on the Bentrider Online forum by mikeatlbch which gives a more balanced perspective and argues that for most practical cases active suspension is not needed. One thing he highlights from his own experience is the passive suspension provided by the Rotovelo frame. While he still prefers the HDPE body for its ability to take the knocks he appreciates the value low weight would offer in a stop-and-go urban environment where ease of acceleration and therefore low weight is important.
So while the armchair velonaut, accustomed to ever increasing technical complexity, may be puzzled: what Trisled have produced is, from their perspective, a logical compromise; satisfied with the ride performance of the original Rotovelo, they have traded a robust body for easier acceleration. It remains to be seen whether there are buyers who agree with them.
157 velomobiles participated in the 2012 Oliebollentocht, upping the record from 149 in 2011. The day was clear and relatively warm for the time of year, which made for some good photography, and photos and videos from riders and others, are now appearing online. Several are linked to from the Ligfiets page.
The ride commenced in Zwolle and, after counting for the record, the velomobiles left in groups of about 50. Looking at the videos it is fair to say that the Quest and Strada velomobiles represented the largest group. However there is a surprisingly large selection of machines to be seen, these included: Flevobike Orca/Versatile; various iterations of Alligt and Flevo Alleweders; WAW; Milan; a couple of Go-One Evo Ks; Velayo; and even a Leiba Classic. The following video takes you on a wander round the parked velomobiles assembling for the ride. The Duo Quest with a trailer also participated and is featured early in the video. It is clear from what is shown, that at least three children could be transported in this way, though I read a report on the Strada 112 A blog that there were four children carried!
The following video also takes you around the assembling velomobiles but also includes some of the ride itself with a mixture of cockpit views and stills which all help to give a flavour of the day.
The next video is quite long at 24 minutes, but features an extensive cockpit eye view taken from a Quest equipped with a carbon race-cap. The view is not all from the cockpit as the rider gets out several times including after rolling onto the ferry at Genemuiden. It is amusing to see the small ferry overwhelmed by the number of velomobiles all trying to cross at the same time. I believe Andre Vrielink can be seen on the ferry with a similar, if not the same, Orca that I test-rode last September.
The following is a much shorter video but with rather flashy production including quite a number of shots in fast-play, which create their own effect and impression.
To conclude there follows a compilation of well-shot video of one group en-route and obviously enjoying themselves. David Hembrow of A View From the Cycle Path is featured smiling at the camera as he passes in his Mango.
The ELF is a relatively large electric assist velomobile currently being developed by Organic Transit in the US. Australian Tech Blog Gizmag recently posted an article highlighting the combined human and solar power sources utilised by the ELF, and also the proposed price of $4,000, which they compared favourably to two other North American produced velombiles, the Hornet ($5,700) and the Tripod ($7,450).
Organic Transit (OT) have adopted a somewhat different design approach to their velomobile, and that, combined with a Kickstarter campaign, is the secret to the relatively low cost. The campaign has been very successful so far, and, with more than 3 weeks still remaining, they have raised more than 125% of the original $100,000 goal. They have already produced several prototypes which have been used to refine the design and build process. Their plan is to release the first 100 production units through Kickstarter.
As is customary on Kickstarter a promotional video has been produced highlighting the proposed product. This can be viewed below. There is also a fairly extensive write up of the development process that OT has gone through to reach this stage on their Kickstarter page. It is particularly interesting that they plan to replace a hand-laid GRP process, that takes two hours to build a body panel, with a vacuum moulded ABS process that takes a mere 12 minutes!
From the above sources and the OT FAQ several interesting facts can be gleaned.
Orgainc Transit are primarily based in Durham, North Carolina but have team members in several states. The team behind the ELF are professional with strong connections to the US Human Powered Vehicle movement. Perhaps the most well known is C. Michael Lewis, who will be known to some as the artist behind numerous velomobile and HPV posters, such as those for Battle Mountain and ROAM.
While currently operating out of a former furniture store in downtown Durham, they have ambitions not only to sell the ELF, and it’s stable-mate the TruckIt, but more globally, to set up micro-factories producing the ELF in “every downtown.” To-date they have had enquiries from many places, including Europe, and they are seriously looking into ways to supply markets further afield than the US.
OT have followed the “Keep it simple” philosophy and are quite clear that they are not intending to compete with the more established, and more aerodynamic, velomobiles such as the Quest and the Mango. Their target is the thoroughly practical user who wants a highly visible vehicle with a large carrying capability and to whom speed is not a significant consideration. Hence the ELF is large – 8′ x 43″ x 5′ (2.4 x 1 x 1.5 m) and heavy – 100 lbs (45 kg).
To avoid the cost and complexity of suspension, OT have opted to use the standard MTB size of 26″ on all wheels, with large diameter tyres to smooth the ride. While simpler this does pose a concern as the front wheels will have to resist lateral forces not normally experienced by bicycle wheels and these forces are a function of the vehicle weight. The consensus so far on successful trikes and velomobiles has been to restrict the size of these wheels to not more than 20″.
The purist will reject the reliance on electric assist and there has been some perhaps unfair criticism of the ELF’s weight, but this should not be an undue problem for the intended user. However, as there is reference to options to add: doors, floor and other extras; one can see the weight rising as the design begins to bloat. One nice feature is the integrated solar panels which allow the batteries to be trickle charged during the day, assuming access to adequate sunlight. Otherwise the standard battery pack takes two hours to charge.
To conform to regulations, allowing the ELF to be classified as a bike, assisted top-speed is limited to 20 mph (32 km/h), but there is no reason why the rider can’t push the vehicle faster if they have the strength or gravity on their side. The following video is taken from an ELF driver’s eye view, about mid way through you hear a conversation between the ELF’s rider and a truck-driver about the potential speeds.
While the debate about “fast cycles” continues to rumble on, the current regulations, particularly those in Europe, that govern e-bikes and their classification impose relatively onerous requirements on vehicles that are classed as “more than a bike”. This makes it challenging to successfully develop and market a vehicle of this type. A recent article on the Low Tech Magazine blog, albeit featuring the highly aerodynamic WAW velomobile, argues the virtues of electric assisted velomobiles, much of which applies to the ELF, the second part of the article also goes into some of the issues with the current legislation.
One velomobile mentioned by the Low Tech article is the 55 kg Aerorider, developed in the mid 2000s. This vehicle with many similar attributes to the ELF failed to be commercially successful due to a combination of high cost, weight and the limitations imposed by regulation. It would be reasonable to say that if regulation had been favourable for a class of “fast bikes” the Aerorider would have done much better. As it stands the Aerorider was redesigned as the Sunrider which has now passed into the hands of Alligt, and Alligt are doing their part to lobby for a fast-bike class (snelfiets). As Alligt now have access to the moulds and tooling for the original Aerorider, should regulations change, one never knows, the Aerorider may ride again. Hopefully the ELF will continue to progress and, though lower cost, a different market and simplicity, be more successful than the Aerorider proved to be.
According to Ligtfiets.net Sinner is to stop producing the Demon and Spirit recumbent bikes, instead concentrating their efforts on the Comfort delta trike and the Mango velomobile. A quick review of the Sinner website turned up no information but Ligtfiets advise that existing stock of the Spirit and Demon will continue to be sold.
Mark 2 Sunrider is to be made available as a kit and branded the Alligt A9
Alligt have a photo of the new Sunrider body with the different elements highlighted in one of the three standard body colours. There is a caveat that the actual shade of yellow will be slightly different from that shown, but it gives a nice idea of how the finished machine is assembled. The most obvious changes are the the rear of the body with a squarer ending reminiscent of the Versatile/Orca but there are quite a number of other more subtle changes to the body which should improve water-tightness and sound.
What is not visible here are the substantial sub-frame and numerous standard Alligt components that have been incorporated into the design.
The particularly interesting news is that the Sunrider will be available as a self build kit along side the A4, A6, A7 and A8. Not too surprisingly the kit will be sold as the A9.
Prices in Euros are available via the Alligt website but to summarise, depending on options: the A9 kit will range from 4,195 to 7,395; and a completed Sunrider ranges from 6,595 to 8,895. A “Moped” class Sunrider is also available suitable for type-approval in Germany for 10,595.
The Roll Over America (ROAM) velomobile tour which took place in 2011 is now documented in book form. Available either as an iBook for iOS 5 or 210 Mb PDF from Google Docs, Josef Janning chronicles the story of the first ever velomobile tour across the United States from Oregon to Washington D.C. The 210 pages cover the 28 day, 5300 km journey in detail, together with additional material and comments from riders and observers.
As one would expect the opening chapter deals with the background and planning for the tour. The book also closes with a number of after thoughts and hints at possible future tours of a similar kind in both the US and other parts of the world.
It is good to see ROAM documented in this, more permanent, fashion as the original site at http://www.rolloveramerica.eu, while reserved, no longer has any content accessible, demonstrating the frustratingly short life cycle of too much of the information available on the internet.
It is the time of year in Holland in which Oliebollen are cooked and eaten. It is also about the time of year when a large number of velonauts gather for what is the world’s largest social velomobile ride – the Oliebollentocht.
Oliebollen are a spiced fruity dough-ball fried and traditionally eaten in Holland around the end of the year so in other words Oliebollentocht is Dutch Doughnut Time. The Oliebollentocht velomobile gatherings have been held yearly in various locations in the Netherlands, and the 17th such gathering is to be held on the last Saturday of December in Zwolle, about a week from now.
The following video produced by David Hembrow and available on his blog – A view from the cycle path – illustrates the experience from a velonaut’s eye view in the 2009 Oliebollentocht held in Utrecht.
Organised through the Dutch HPV site ligfiets.net there is a page with more details for those wishing to participate. This is strictly a velomobile-only event. This year the exclusivity perhaps takes on more significance, as velomobiles have been excluded for the first time from participating in a similar event, the Elfstedenfietstocht, despite participating without incident in previous years.
Last year there was a record number of 149 velomobiles in attendance and there will be high hopes to break that record next Saturday. The following video shows a selection of the assembled velomobiles presumably while most of the riders are inside consuming Oliebollen and coffee.
The following video is a Dutch TV report of the same event and contains some nice shots. There are also English subtitles which helps for those without Dutch.
All-in-all good promotion of the velomobile helping to raise the awareness of the concept in Holland and possibly elsewhere too.
Best known for developing the suspension system used on the original Mini and then designing the series of revolutionary small wheeled suspended bicycles that bear his name, which are still produced today, he also was active in contributing to the HPV comunity. He presented papers at two of the IHPVA international symposia and added comments in the columns of Human Power. He also authored or contributed to a number of books including a biographical interview with the cycle historian John Pinkerton and an excellent engineering reference book, the Moulton Formulae and Methods. As such his legacy will live on.
Active until the end he was a living demonstration of the benefits of regular cycling both to the individual and to society. The following short interview was taken earlier this year.
The following short “Made in Britain” film gives an overview of his work and the Moulton Bicycle company – a fitting tribute.
POSTSCRIPT:
While writing this post I spent some time looking for what I believe was an Open University lecture about Moulton covering the manufacture and the philosophy behind the design and it’s development. The page where I first saw it on Cozy Beehive points to a non-existent Google video. Does anyone know where to find it now?
After pulling out of the World Human Powered Speed Challenge last September due to an unready machine, Graeme has continued to work on his Beastie. Development has now reached a stage where fully faired trials can take place and a Scottish venue has been found. The Bicycle Design blog reported on trials that took place at Machrihanish in Argyle. The site is a former RAF airfield with a 10,000 ft or 3 km (1.8 mile) runway, though part is still used as Campbelltown Airport. Being both quiet and having the longest public runway in Scotland makes this ideal for Graeme’s attempt, given his self-imposed constraints. He will however loose all the advantage of altitude at Battle Mountain, as Machrihanish’s runway is very close to sea-level.
The trial itself was limited by weather in particular the inability to see through the spray landing on the fairing. This necessitated some surgery to the front to open a viewing port but Graeme reported that the Beastie handled very well.
Having confirmed the design there will be further tweaks, particularly to the fairing, and then a wait for ideal weather.
A much more full report with more images is available on Human’s Invent. Human’s iNvent are also to be credited for the above photos.
A new Velomobile design, the Road HAWK, is currently being developed by WEJKAMA, a company in Poland. The company is well established, currently serving the automotive world with a number of fiberglass products products, principally a sleeping compartment that can be installed on a number of delivery vehicles for long distance freight haulage.
As an existing company with all the skills needed to produce velomobile bodies the potential looks good. However the information on their website, while interesting, is rather scanty when it come to technical detail. The image featured above is evidently a photo-mock-up, but it does appear to be based on a body prototype to which some wheels have been attached. The hard part will be in getting the details right including successfully developing the mechanical side.
The above drawings, from Wejkama’s site, also indicate plans to offer the Road HAWK in multiple configurations with both a head-in, “Cabin,” as well as a head-out, “Cabrio,” model. Similar to Wejkama, Car-bike/Cab-bike also offer(ed) a Cabin and a Cabrio model and one cannot help making a connection. We await with interest to see how the Road HAWK continues to develop this year.
